Torque limiter Q & A

[gbalanced]

Hello everyone. I recently bought a Mazdaspeed 3 and I had a question that may regard the torque limiter. After I finally broke in the engine (felt like forever), I finally had the chance to do a good launch the other day. It felt strong with a slight wheel spin at the top (DSC disengaged and me trying to modulate the throttle) and when I shifted into second it seemed like the car bogged/had power cut out for a second or two and then took off like a bat out of hell. Now, on my previous cars, a shift like that into second would provide atleast a fair amount of wheelspin, but all I got was a chirp and then what seemed like a loss of power (like the boost was cut out or something). If someone could just clarify me on this and tell me if its normal or if there is some kind of aftermarket chip/tuning possible to get rid of the problem or atleast the torque limiter in second, it would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time guys.

 

[CX-7owner]

There are/will be options to give you full control of the throttle plate, and it sounds like what happened was traction control engaging, it applies the brakes and limits torque to a near standstill then lets off once it thinks you have regained power.

 

[fourthmeal]

you can try to bypass all TSC and DSC features to verify that you have everything healthy in the engine bay. Just Hold down the DSC OFF button on the dash at the left as you start the engine, and let go after the engine starts. The DSC and traction control lights should light up. If they do, you can now play at full power (other then the boost limiter, which is omnipresent as I understand it.)

I've gotten into the habit of hitting that switch before startup every single time, just like my old Mustang.

 

[Tigs]

Hello everyone. I recently bought a Mazdaspeed 3 and I had a question that may regard the torque limiter. After I finally broke in the engine (felt like forever), I finally had the chance to do a good launch the other day. It felt strong with a slight wheel spin at the top (DSC disengaged and me trying to modulate the throttle) and when I shifted into second it seemed like the car bogged/had power cut out for a second or two and then took off like a bat out of hell. Now, on my previous cars, a shift like that into second would provide atleast a fair amount of wheelspin, but all I got was a chirp and then what seemed like a loss of power (like the boost was cut out or something). If someone could just clarify me on this and tell me if its normal or if there is some kind of aftermarket chip/tuning possible to get rid of the problem or atleast the torque limiter in second, it would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time guys.

if you had toggled off the DSC button (meaning the light was on in the instrument cluster) then the power cut you felt was most likely turbo lag as you came off the accelerator, then shifted, then depressed the accelertor once more. You lost boost during the shift, and it had to rebuilt before going 'fast' again. To maintain boost during the shift you either have to be very fast using the lift & shift method, or simply flat shift.

If what you felt occured with the dsc enabled then yes, it's as our other user commented. Simply the dsc dropping power off to reduce wheelspin and then allowing boost to build once wheelspin is under control.

 

[Tigs]

you can try to bypass all TSC and DSC features to verify that you have everything healthy in the engine bay. Just Hold down the DSC OFF button on the dash at the left as you start the engine, and let go after the engine starts. The DSC and traction control lights should light up. If they do, you can now play at full power (other then the boost limiter, which is omnipresent as I understand it.)

I've gotten into the habit of hitting that switch before startup every single time, just like my old Mustang.

Has there been any proof that this does indeed allow full power in first & second gear? I've tried it a few times and do not notice notable gains (and with 30% power normally pulled in those lower gears it should be easily noticeable).

One thing it does apparently do is disable your ABS system...so use with caution.

 

[sierra248]

This is my first turbo car and I know how you feel, its just turbo lag. This car is very simple to flatfoot shift. I think the computer helps allot as this car is also very easy to match revs while downshifting too. Just shift fast and don't take your foot off the floor. Now I wouldn't do this every shift or anything but the couple times Ive done it, it doesn't feel as bad on the car as you'd think and there is no boost drop. The first time you get it right is very good feeling, just like a perfectly matched downshift!! One of the magazines had a quote from Mazda on how to launch the car, was something like "Launch at 2700RPN and never lift off the throttle for whole quarter mile, Don't worry it won't break" That's from Mazda so take it with a a grain of salt.

The hold down the DSC while starting the car thing I did not know and am going to go try right now. So your telling me that when I just turn off DSC that I still have some computer interference from the traction control, but when I do this it wont? Have you guys that have been running the 1/4 mile been doing that?

 

[tsunami]

even with the dsc completely off boost/power is still limited... at least thats my understanding.

 

[Kosh]

Try it again with traction control off as everyone else said. Keep an eye on your RPM as you shift and try to keep it around 4k to build boost faster. DSC doesn't kick in when accelerating by the way, just when tires loose traction around turns.

The stock torque mount is this car is too flexible and you could be loosing power by the engine moving around in the engine bay between shifts.

 

[Tigs]

Try it again with traction control off as everyone else said. Keep an eye on your RPM as you shift and try to keep it around 4k to build boost faster. DSC doesn't kick in when accelerating by the way, just when tires loose traction around turns.

The stock torque mount is this car is too flexible and you could be loosing power by the engine moving around in the engine bay between shifts.

if you've toggle dsc off it will not kick in on acceleration. However, if it's enabled it WILL engage on wheel slip straight line or corners. Try dumping the clutch on launch..as soon as wheel spin is detected you will get a loud 'bang' (lsd kicking in perhaps?) followed by the car losing power (presumeably as the computer cuts power to help reduce wheel spin) and you'll note the dsc light come on as the wheels are spinning.

Either way, it definitely kicks in

 

[gbalanced]

Thanks for the helpfull info guys, especially fourthmeal for shedding some light on how to disengage more computer controlled systems (something of which I am ALL FOR). Upon learning this I had to try it on the way home from work and I figured out that it wasn't due to the TCS. It is indeed as I originally suspected...my first ever turbo car. I was wondering if that was it at first but was reassured by a fellow tech at work that it shouldn't lose boost that quick, but now it does make more sense to me.

Coming from a tech's perspective, I don't think I'll ever flat foot shift this car (maybe a few times if money/bragging rights with fellow coworkers/racers are on the line) because it can not possibly be good for the clutch. I will however begin experimenting with lifting the gas pedal at different heights to guarantee a good shift into second with minimal wheel spin, ie. faster times.

Thanks again guys for the speedy response. Coming from a Honda forum for my old 89 CRX, it appears everyone is much faster and more forgiving of being a n00b here.

 

[fourthmeal]

not a problem, bud. I learned it on here before I told you, and I've been using it ever since.

 

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

completely off topic but welcome to the forums man